Karl Rove: Utter 'Nonsense' Republicans Want To Impeach Obama

Karl Rove argued in his most recent column in The Wall Street Journal that it's "complete and utter nonsense" that Republicans want to impeach President Barack Obama.

In the column Rove rattles off examples of Democrats warning about Republicans raising the specter of moving to impeach the president. He then argues that it's just a ploy to excite the Democratic base and raise money. "All this is complete and utter nonsense."

"The House would need to launch an impeachment effort, yet [House Speaker John Boehner] said this week that the House has "no plans to impeach the president" and "no future plans" either," Rove wrote. "On Tuesday he called it "a scam started by Democrats at the White House." No sane person believes that even after the midterms there will be the necessary 67 votes in the Senate to remove Mr. Obama, even if the House voted to impeach him."

Rove also said there's a good reason Republicans wouldn't want to threaten Obama with impeachment: it hurts them with Independent voters. He continued:

Today, independents are inclined to favor Republicans by an 11-point margin, according to a July 22 Fox News Poll, and 59% disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance. Yet in a July 20 CNN/ORC poll, 63% of independents oppose impeachment.

Finally, talk of impeachment diverts attention from everything else. Every moment spent discussing impeachment is a moment not spent discussing issues that hurt Democrats, such as ObamaCare, the weak recovery, the border crisis, the nation's growing debt and the world's increasingly dangerous condition.

Some Republicans, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have recently raised the specter of impeachment, while others like Boehner (R-OH) have shot down the idea and have opted to sue him instead.